County unemployment continues to decline

A report released Wednesday by the Kansas City Office of the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that unemployment continues to decline in Leavenworth County, albeit slowly.

Tim Linn

A report released Wednesday by the Kansas City Office of the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that unemployment continues to decline in Leavenworth County, albeit slowly.

The metropolitan area report, which runs a month behind the national report due out Friday, showed the percent of unemployed here fell from 6.6 percent in May to 6.4 percent in June. Over the year, the rate has fallen from 6.7 percent in June 2012, with a spike in January 2013 of 7.8 percent.

The most recent decrease means about 111 fewer people unemployed in Leavenworth County compared to a year ago.

It's an improvement in a metropolitan report that otherwise saw local unemployment rates increase, in many cases. Between May and June, the state of Kansas' own average stayed static, at 5.8 percent, though over the year the rate has fallen from 6 percent. The rate actually increased for the state of Missouri as a whole, from 6.7 percent in May to 7.1 percent in June and a steady 7.1 percent compared to a year ago. The national unemployment rate fell from 8.4 percent in June 2012 to 7.8 in June this year, but between May and June this year the rate reportedly rose from 7.3 to 7.8 percent.

The Kansas City area as a whole has added more than 10,000 jobs over the year, according to the BLS. The majority of job growth has been in the leisure and hospitality sector, with about 6,600 over the year. The education and health services and government sectors saw declines over the same period.

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